Where I rewatch Yugioh GX, Episode 25
Jun. 3rd, 2010 03:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cypsiman2So its nighttime at the North Campus, lightning flashing as the students chant out 'King'. The principal announces that he will pass onto Manjoume the sure-kill cards of the North Campus; why the previous king wasn't using these cards, we'll never know. Manjoume is now wearing the Black Coat that he'll be wearing for the rest of the series, and Ichinose says he's sure Manjoume will be able to master these cards. Oh, and lots of chanting of 'Manjoume Thunder' as the thunder booms all around, once again proving that not all puns, especially visual ones, are created equally.
TITLE SCREEN! VS. MANJOUME THUNDER (PART 1) THE THREAT OF ARMED DRAGON! it'll have to be one hell of a threat to break through judai's plot armor, that's for sure.
Judai is, for some reason, summoning out his four main Elemental Heroes, Featherman, Burst Lady, Spark Man, and Clayman, and then he says they look really cool, the first stages of Judai's disturbing tendency to talk with his cards as though they are real people, instead of the actual real people in his life. One pointless pep talk for the non-sentient holograms later, and then Shou runs in, telling Judai that "everyone is all together". To clarify, they are all together at the reception for the North Campus representative, and once again Judai's cluelessness is not charming in the least.
Now we're at the reception, which is at the docks; Samejima and Ichinose greet each other like old friends, and Ichinose asks about Ms. Tome. Samejima says she is doing well, as she is a person without whom the interschool match could not be held, leaving me with a rather...uneasy feeling. Judai then rudely interrupts like a selfish brat and insists that he be introduced to his opponent right now, or he'll throw a big hissy fit (not really, but it's incredibly easy to read into Judai's every action). Samejima points out that Judai is being rude, but Judai does not care, as he is an obnoxious little prick who only cares about what he wants. Ichinose asks if he really is the rumored Judai, and Judai is very rude and informal when addressing Principal Ichinose, and Samejima should seriously be punishing Judai for his impertinence, and of course Judai, being the oblivious dolt that he is, does not care.
Seriously, it boggles the mind how much better a character Judai is in the manga, even before we get into the really stupid directions that the anime takes with Judai's character.
Anyway, Manjoume comes out and announces himself as Judai's opponent, and Judai continues to be a rude prick by not addressing Manjoume properly. Manjoume corrects him, and it takes Judai about twenty repetitions for it to finally sink in through that thick dome of hair of his that his opponent is Manjoume, which just makes me hate Judai even more. The former king of North Campus and his cronies say they've heard of how Judai does not address Manjoume-san properly, and so they threaten to teach him a lesson. Manjoume says to leave him be, knowing that the shit-stain known as Judai is too far beneath them for them to bother.
Then the wind kicks up as some helicopters land, and they are from the Manjoume group; Jun Manjoume's big brothers, Chousaku and Shouji, pop out to say that they are here to give Manjoume's victory their blessing, and now there are camera crews and mirrors and all that kind of television jazz all over the place. Samejima asks what's going on, and it is explained that this year, the inter-campus match will be broadcast all over the country, live!
You know, considering that Jun Manjoume only became the North Campus's representative like, two days earlier, I have to wonder how the Manjoume group could have arranged all this. Oh, right, plot device information transmission. Of course.
Judai, demonstrating how big of a screen hog he is, fills one of the cameras with his ugly mug as he shouts out the obvious that his big stupid face is now being broadcast all across Japan. Seriously, it is painful how lacking in charisma Judai is, and for some reason it seems much worse in this episode.
Jun demands to know what his brothers are really doing here, and they say that this broadcast will fulfill the promise that all three of them made together; to make the world into the Manjoume Empire. Thus, they will promote Jun and put him on top of the Card Game World, which makes about as much sense as having a school dedicated to a card game in the first place, so why not? They then go on to add that they heard from Professor Chronos that he dropped out three months ago (so how long was Manjoume out at sea for anyway? Show, if we're going to have a time-frame, could we be a bit more clear on it? No? Well, that's just ducky.) The big brothers then demonstrate that they are not the least bit supportive by yelling at Jun, calling him the bum of the family, and since the Manjoume group is sponsoring the broadcast, he can't afford to lose. Then they bring out a brief-case full of rare cards that they spent a lot of money to put together, and that Jun WILL use these cards to create his ultimate deck, and he better not disgrace the Manjoume group.
So after that bit of brotherly love, we get to see Judai running through the hall, whining about how he should've been told that he was going to be on TV a whole lot sooner, because everything in the whole wide world is all about him. Now we see Manjoume pounding his fists on a mirror about how it's no use, that he has to win, that he is not the bum of the three siblings, that he has to win again and again and again, day after day after day, and Judai overhears all this. Manjoume says no one understands his burden, and I'm pretty sure Seto Kaiba to tell him to shut the hell up, its not like his beloved little brother had his soul stolen or anything important like that. Judai, possibly affected by this, leaves Manjoume to his sobbing.
Now, for the first time in fucking-ever, the stands of the Duel Academia stadium are actually filled to capacity. I wonder if they'll be able to keep this up? Oh wait, they can only do this because they've brought in the North Campus students to fill out all the usually empty seats. Nevermind. Ichinose and Samejima discuss how the winner will get the usual prize, and that they've spent the whole year looking forward to this. I lower my raised eyebrow, and now we're with Judai, who is accompanied by Shou and Hayato; Shou says that Judai should be able to take it easy, since it's only Manjoume whose ass he's already kicked twice, but Judai, in a shocking display of humility, isn't so sure. GASP, REAL FUCKING EMPATHY! SOUND THE ALARMS, JUDAI IS ACTUALLY FEELING FOR SOMEONE AND NOT JUST BEING AN ARROGANT SNOT! I wonder how long that will last? Judai says that he respects Manjoume now, having struggled to reach the top of North Campus on his own and bringing his struggle to their doorstep. Which would mean he didn't respect Manjoume in their previous duels, making Judai just as big a prick as Manjoume was.
The principals announce the start of the match, Professor Chronos is told to introduce the duelists and he proceeds to get stage fright, since he is on National Television. But he does his job, until Manjoume declares that he'll introduce himself, calls Professor Chronos a Kappa, Chronos stumbles over a cord and off the stage in a really stupid bit of slapstick. Manjoume proclaims to those who mocked him, laughed at him and thought he got what he deserved, that he has risen from the ashes like a Phoenix, returned from Hell, and is (say it with me), 1, 10, 100, 1000, Manjoume Thunder. So having mixed at least three metaphors and another refrain of Manjoume Thunder later, Shou comments on how popular Manjoume is now. And of course, Judai still won't use the proper form of address with Manjoume. Because he's a prick.
Seriously, if someone tells you to call them 'Mr' or 'Sir', or whatever? You don't contradict them! You just address them the way they want to be, because its a small thing but still important to show that you're not a rude little prick like Judai.
EYECATCH!
Manjoume takes the first turn of the duel and summons Masked Dragon in defense position, with 1100 defense points as opposed to its 1400 attack points, and ends his turn. Judai takes his turn and summons Burst Lady and destroys Masked Dragon, but this activates Masked Dragon's effect, allowing Manjoume to special summon a Dragon-type monster from his deck with 1500 attack points or less, so just as planned he special summons Armed Dragon Level 3 with 1200 attack points. Shou wonders what the 'Level 3' signifies, and Asuka explains that its a monster that will level up when the right conditions are fulfilled. Misawa says something about a rare card only mentioned in legends, which really doesn't make any sense, and he wonders if Manjoume has it. Samejima recognizes this as the cards passed down through the North Academy, and Ichinose says he meant it when he said he wanted to win. Samejima stands up and says he won't let Ichinose claim the prize for himself, and yells to Judai that he's not allowed to lose. Maybe if you threaten him with expulsion...
Judai, of course, says he won't, and of course, he wants to see what Manjoume's interesting card can do, and I, of course, want to smack Judai around so much. Judai sets a card to end his turn, and thus does Manjoume's 'dreadful' turn begin; during his standby phase, Armed Dragon Level 3 activates its effect, sacrificing itself to special summon Armed Dragon Level 5 from his deck, and Armed Dragon Level 5 has 2400 attack points! Misawa warns Judai that Armed Dragon Level 5's effect will also be proportionately more powerful, so Judai activates his brand new trap card, Hero Halo; he equips it to Burst Lady and now she can't be attacked by a monster with 1900 or more attack points. Manjoume laughs off Judai's pathetic efforts to protect himself and activates Armed Dragon Level 5's effect; by discarding a monster from his hand, he can destroy one enemy monster with equal or lower attack power. So he discards Dragonfly, which has 1400 attack points, and destroys Burst Lady outside of battle.
Oh, and as we get reaction shots from Judai's friends, Asuka's face gets cut off by the split-screen effect, meaning all we get to see of her is her boobies. Tasteful, real tasteful.
Now that Judai has nothing to protect himself with, Manjoume attacks directly for 2400 hundred points of damage, and it occurs to me that Manjoume could have summoned Dragonfly and used it to destroy Burstlady for 200 points of damage and open up the direct attack that way. Plus, Dragonfly's own effect would have opened up a possible second Armed Dragon Level 3 special summon, which would make the situation even worse for Judai. But hey, we've got to advertise the big name card's effect, right?
Oh, and Judai is sent flying by the attack and lands on his head, which means that was in any risk of being damaged. Manjoume mockingly asks if Judai is already finished, and Judai gets back to his feet and says that since he's on TV, he can't look too uncool. Way too late for that BS, my little pest, and the meta-commentary is too inept to be worth anything. Then Manjoume sets a card to end his turn, and the Manjoume brothers say that if Manjoume overdoes it, they'll have broadcast time left over!
So Judai takes his turn and summons Bubbleman to draw with its bullshit effect, and then conveniently draws fusion, so he brings out Elemental Hero Tempester, allowing him to destroy Armed Dragon Level 5 for 400 points of damage. But Manjoume just activates his trap card, Call of the Living Dead, special summoning Armed Dragon Level 5 back from the grave. A chorus of 'Manjoume Thunder', and Judai sets a card to end his turn. Hayato pipes up to say that Judai will be fine, since for Manjoume to destroy Tempester he'd need to discard a monster with at least 2800 attack points from his hand, and how many monsters like that are there?
Well...according to the Yugioh Wikia, there are 72 monsters with 2800 attack points, though a lot of them came out well after this episode. Still, you get the idea. Also, why is Hayato explaining this? He sucks!
Manjoume tells them all not to underestimate the monsters in his deck, and he draws and discards Despair from the Darkness, which has 2800 attack points, to destroy Tempester. But Judai activates De-Fusion to separate Tempester back into its component monsters, making Manjoume's monster effect a wash. Manjoume still has his attack available to him, so he attacks and destroys Sparkman, and then tells Judai that it was a mistake to use De-Fusion like that; now that Armed Dragon Level 5 has destroyed a monster by battle, it can be sacrificed to special summon Armed Dragon Level 7 from the deck, and Armed Dragon Level 7 has 2800 attack points. Judai wonders if this is Armed Dragon's ultimate form, and for this season it will be.
One of the Manjoume brothers realizes that Armed Dragon Level 7 was not among the cards they provided Manjoume with, and they wonder what the hell Manjoume is doing. Ichinose laughs, Samejima growls, and then...Ichinose starts touching his own cheek. Trust me, it makes a lot more sense once you find out what they prize they're bickering and arguing over like school-children is. More yelling from the crowd, AND THAT FUCKING MUSIC CUE, FUCK IT IN THE EAR! Oh, and Manjoume confirms that, yes, Armed Dragon Level 7 is the legendary card, and Judai yells out that he wants one too, just like any other five year old. Manjoume reminds him of the danger of his situation, but of course Judai can't help being so excited, having dumped out his daily dose of Ritalin into the ocean that morning, like he does every morning.
Seriously, can someone shoot Judai in the face and replace him with someone else, anyone else? I struggle to think of anyone who'd be worse than him.
Manjoume tells Judai that he can't wander through life care-free, without a thought in the empty cavern that he calls a skull, that it is upon his back that he bears the heavy glare of the Manjoume group, and once again things are blatantly stacked to make Judai look like a heroic figure that we should all aspire to, despite the fact that he is nothing but a lazy, unmotivated prick. Judai takes his turn and summons Friendog in defense position, and sets a card to end his turn.
Manjoume declares that Judai's smallfries won't help him now, and activates Armed Dragon Level 7's effect; by discarding a monster from his hand, it destroys ALL enemy monsters with equal or less attack points. So Manjoume discards Armed Dragon Level 3 to destroy all of Judai's monsters, leaving Judai with nothing to protect him. Judai activates Friendog's effect, returning Fusion and Burst Lady from his grave to his hand, but Manjoume declares that this is the end, and attacks directly with Armed Dragon Level 7...and we're going to wait 'till next episode to find out how Judai avoids getting defeated like he should be. Oh, and we even get an official "TO BE CONTINUED". How quaint.
NEXT TIME! The duel continues, Winged Kuriboh and Ojama Yellow get involved, and Judai says they should just have fun! EPISODE TITLE, VS. MANJOUME THUNDER (PART TWO) ARMED DRAGON LEVEL 7
Seriously, I don't think I've ever seen a main character in a series, shonen or otherwise, who was more annoying and lacking in charisma than Judai. Even Naruto and Ichigo at their worst, are not as consistently annoying as Judai. Fuck. And again, they literally shove Judai into our faces all the fucking time. Fuck!
TITLE SCREEN! VS. MANJOUME THUNDER (PART 1) THE THREAT OF ARMED DRAGON! it'll have to be one hell of a threat to break through judai's plot armor, that's for sure.
Judai is, for some reason, summoning out his four main Elemental Heroes, Featherman, Burst Lady, Spark Man, and Clayman, and then he says they look really cool, the first stages of Judai's disturbing tendency to talk with his cards as though they are real people, instead of the actual real people in his life. One pointless pep talk for the non-sentient holograms later, and then Shou runs in, telling Judai that "everyone is all together". To clarify, they are all together at the reception for the North Campus representative, and once again Judai's cluelessness is not charming in the least.
Now we're at the reception, which is at the docks; Samejima and Ichinose greet each other like old friends, and Ichinose asks about Ms. Tome. Samejima says she is doing well, as she is a person without whom the interschool match could not be held, leaving me with a rather...uneasy feeling. Judai then rudely interrupts like a selfish brat and insists that he be introduced to his opponent right now, or he'll throw a big hissy fit (not really, but it's incredibly easy to read into Judai's every action). Samejima points out that Judai is being rude, but Judai does not care, as he is an obnoxious little prick who only cares about what he wants. Ichinose asks if he really is the rumored Judai, and Judai is very rude and informal when addressing Principal Ichinose, and Samejima should seriously be punishing Judai for his impertinence, and of course Judai, being the oblivious dolt that he is, does not care.
Seriously, it boggles the mind how much better a character Judai is in the manga, even before we get into the really stupid directions that the anime takes with Judai's character.
Anyway, Manjoume comes out and announces himself as Judai's opponent, and Judai continues to be a rude prick by not addressing Manjoume properly. Manjoume corrects him, and it takes Judai about twenty repetitions for it to finally sink in through that thick dome of hair of his that his opponent is Manjoume, which just makes me hate Judai even more. The former king of North Campus and his cronies say they've heard of how Judai does not address Manjoume-san properly, and so they threaten to teach him a lesson. Manjoume says to leave him be, knowing that the shit-stain known as Judai is too far beneath them for them to bother.
Then the wind kicks up as some helicopters land, and they are from the Manjoume group; Jun Manjoume's big brothers, Chousaku and Shouji, pop out to say that they are here to give Manjoume's victory their blessing, and now there are camera crews and mirrors and all that kind of television jazz all over the place. Samejima asks what's going on, and it is explained that this year, the inter-campus match will be broadcast all over the country, live!
You know, considering that Jun Manjoume only became the North Campus's representative like, two days earlier, I have to wonder how the Manjoume group could have arranged all this. Oh, right, plot device information transmission. Of course.
Judai, demonstrating how big of a screen hog he is, fills one of the cameras with his ugly mug as he shouts out the obvious that his big stupid face is now being broadcast all across Japan. Seriously, it is painful how lacking in charisma Judai is, and for some reason it seems much worse in this episode.
Jun demands to know what his brothers are really doing here, and they say that this broadcast will fulfill the promise that all three of them made together; to make the world into the Manjoume Empire. Thus, they will promote Jun and put him on top of the Card Game World, which makes about as much sense as having a school dedicated to a card game in the first place, so why not? They then go on to add that they heard from Professor Chronos that he dropped out three months ago (so how long was Manjoume out at sea for anyway? Show, if we're going to have a time-frame, could we be a bit more clear on it? No? Well, that's just ducky.) The big brothers then demonstrate that they are not the least bit supportive by yelling at Jun, calling him the bum of the family, and since the Manjoume group is sponsoring the broadcast, he can't afford to lose. Then they bring out a brief-case full of rare cards that they spent a lot of money to put together, and that Jun WILL use these cards to create his ultimate deck, and he better not disgrace the Manjoume group.
So after that bit of brotherly love, we get to see Judai running through the hall, whining about how he should've been told that he was going to be on TV a whole lot sooner, because everything in the whole wide world is all about him. Now we see Manjoume pounding his fists on a mirror about how it's no use, that he has to win, that he is not the bum of the three siblings, that he has to win again and again and again, day after day after day, and Judai overhears all this. Manjoume says no one understands his burden, and I'm pretty sure Seto Kaiba to tell him to shut the hell up, its not like his beloved little brother had his soul stolen or anything important like that. Judai, possibly affected by this, leaves Manjoume to his sobbing.
Now, for the first time in fucking-ever, the stands of the Duel Academia stadium are actually filled to capacity. I wonder if they'll be able to keep this up? Oh wait, they can only do this because they've brought in the North Campus students to fill out all the usually empty seats. Nevermind. Ichinose and Samejima discuss how the winner will get the usual prize, and that they've spent the whole year looking forward to this. I lower my raised eyebrow, and now we're with Judai, who is accompanied by Shou and Hayato; Shou says that Judai should be able to take it easy, since it's only Manjoume whose ass he's already kicked twice, but Judai, in a shocking display of humility, isn't so sure. GASP, REAL FUCKING EMPATHY! SOUND THE ALARMS, JUDAI IS ACTUALLY FEELING FOR SOMEONE AND NOT JUST BEING AN ARROGANT SNOT! I wonder how long that will last? Judai says that he respects Manjoume now, having struggled to reach the top of North Campus on his own and bringing his struggle to their doorstep. Which would mean he didn't respect Manjoume in their previous duels, making Judai just as big a prick as Manjoume was.
The principals announce the start of the match, Professor Chronos is told to introduce the duelists and he proceeds to get stage fright, since he is on National Television. But he does his job, until Manjoume declares that he'll introduce himself, calls Professor Chronos a Kappa, Chronos stumbles over a cord and off the stage in a really stupid bit of slapstick. Manjoume proclaims to those who mocked him, laughed at him and thought he got what he deserved, that he has risen from the ashes like a Phoenix, returned from Hell, and is (say it with me), 1, 10, 100, 1000, Manjoume Thunder. So having mixed at least three metaphors and another refrain of Manjoume Thunder later, Shou comments on how popular Manjoume is now. And of course, Judai still won't use the proper form of address with Manjoume. Because he's a prick.
Seriously, if someone tells you to call them 'Mr' or 'Sir', or whatever? You don't contradict them! You just address them the way they want to be, because its a small thing but still important to show that you're not a rude little prick like Judai.
EYECATCH!
Manjoume takes the first turn of the duel and summons Masked Dragon in defense position, with 1100 defense points as opposed to its 1400 attack points, and ends his turn. Judai takes his turn and summons Burst Lady and destroys Masked Dragon, but this activates Masked Dragon's effect, allowing Manjoume to special summon a Dragon-type monster from his deck with 1500 attack points or less, so just as planned he special summons Armed Dragon Level 3 with 1200 attack points. Shou wonders what the 'Level 3' signifies, and Asuka explains that its a monster that will level up when the right conditions are fulfilled. Misawa says something about a rare card only mentioned in legends, which really doesn't make any sense, and he wonders if Manjoume has it. Samejima recognizes this as the cards passed down through the North Academy, and Ichinose says he meant it when he said he wanted to win. Samejima stands up and says he won't let Ichinose claim the prize for himself, and yells to Judai that he's not allowed to lose. Maybe if you threaten him with expulsion...
Judai, of course, says he won't, and of course, he wants to see what Manjoume's interesting card can do, and I, of course, want to smack Judai around so much. Judai sets a card to end his turn, and thus does Manjoume's 'dreadful' turn begin; during his standby phase, Armed Dragon Level 3 activates its effect, sacrificing itself to special summon Armed Dragon Level 5 from his deck, and Armed Dragon Level 5 has 2400 attack points! Misawa warns Judai that Armed Dragon Level 5's effect will also be proportionately more powerful, so Judai activates his brand new trap card, Hero Halo; he equips it to Burst Lady and now she can't be attacked by a monster with 1900 or more attack points. Manjoume laughs off Judai's pathetic efforts to protect himself and activates Armed Dragon Level 5's effect; by discarding a monster from his hand, he can destroy one enemy monster with equal or lower attack power. So he discards Dragonfly, which has 1400 attack points, and destroys Burst Lady outside of battle.
Oh, and as we get reaction shots from Judai's friends, Asuka's face gets cut off by the split-screen effect, meaning all we get to see of her is her boobies. Tasteful, real tasteful.
Now that Judai has nothing to protect himself with, Manjoume attacks directly for 2400 hundred points of damage, and it occurs to me that Manjoume could have summoned Dragonfly and used it to destroy Burstlady for 200 points of damage and open up the direct attack that way. Plus, Dragonfly's own effect would have opened up a possible second Armed Dragon Level 3 special summon, which would make the situation even worse for Judai. But hey, we've got to advertise the big name card's effect, right?
Oh, and Judai is sent flying by the attack and lands on his head, which means that was in any risk of being damaged. Manjoume mockingly asks if Judai is already finished, and Judai gets back to his feet and says that since he's on TV, he can't look too uncool. Way too late for that BS, my little pest, and the meta-commentary is too inept to be worth anything. Then Manjoume sets a card to end his turn, and the Manjoume brothers say that if Manjoume overdoes it, they'll have broadcast time left over!
So Judai takes his turn and summons Bubbleman to draw with its bullshit effect, and then conveniently draws fusion, so he brings out Elemental Hero Tempester, allowing him to destroy Armed Dragon Level 5 for 400 points of damage. But Manjoume just activates his trap card, Call of the Living Dead, special summoning Armed Dragon Level 5 back from the grave. A chorus of 'Manjoume Thunder', and Judai sets a card to end his turn. Hayato pipes up to say that Judai will be fine, since for Manjoume to destroy Tempester he'd need to discard a monster with at least 2800 attack points from his hand, and how many monsters like that are there?
Well...according to the Yugioh Wikia, there are 72 monsters with 2800 attack points, though a lot of them came out well after this episode. Still, you get the idea. Also, why is Hayato explaining this? He sucks!
Manjoume tells them all not to underestimate the monsters in his deck, and he draws and discards Despair from the Darkness, which has 2800 attack points, to destroy Tempester. But Judai activates De-Fusion to separate Tempester back into its component monsters, making Manjoume's monster effect a wash. Manjoume still has his attack available to him, so he attacks and destroys Sparkman, and then tells Judai that it was a mistake to use De-Fusion like that; now that Armed Dragon Level 5 has destroyed a monster by battle, it can be sacrificed to special summon Armed Dragon Level 7 from the deck, and Armed Dragon Level 7 has 2800 attack points. Judai wonders if this is Armed Dragon's ultimate form, and for this season it will be.
One of the Manjoume brothers realizes that Armed Dragon Level 7 was not among the cards they provided Manjoume with, and they wonder what the hell Manjoume is doing. Ichinose laughs, Samejima growls, and then...Ichinose starts touching his own cheek. Trust me, it makes a lot more sense once you find out what they prize they're bickering and arguing over like school-children is. More yelling from the crowd, AND THAT FUCKING MUSIC CUE, FUCK IT IN THE EAR! Oh, and Manjoume confirms that, yes, Armed Dragon Level 7 is the legendary card, and Judai yells out that he wants one too, just like any other five year old. Manjoume reminds him of the danger of his situation, but of course Judai can't help being so excited, having dumped out his daily dose of Ritalin into the ocean that morning, like he does every morning.
Seriously, can someone shoot Judai in the face and replace him with someone else, anyone else? I struggle to think of anyone who'd be worse than him.
Manjoume tells Judai that he can't wander through life care-free, without a thought in the empty cavern that he calls a skull, that it is upon his back that he bears the heavy glare of the Manjoume group, and once again things are blatantly stacked to make Judai look like a heroic figure that we should all aspire to, despite the fact that he is nothing but a lazy, unmotivated prick. Judai takes his turn and summons Friendog in defense position, and sets a card to end his turn.
Manjoume declares that Judai's smallfries won't help him now, and activates Armed Dragon Level 7's effect; by discarding a monster from his hand, it destroys ALL enemy monsters with equal or less attack points. So Manjoume discards Armed Dragon Level 3 to destroy all of Judai's monsters, leaving Judai with nothing to protect him. Judai activates Friendog's effect, returning Fusion and Burst Lady from his grave to his hand, but Manjoume declares that this is the end, and attacks directly with Armed Dragon Level 7...and we're going to wait 'till next episode to find out how Judai avoids getting defeated like he should be. Oh, and we even get an official "TO BE CONTINUED". How quaint.
NEXT TIME! The duel continues, Winged Kuriboh and Ojama Yellow get involved, and Judai says they should just have fun! EPISODE TITLE, VS. MANJOUME THUNDER (PART TWO) ARMED DRAGON LEVEL 7
Seriously, I don't think I've ever seen a main character in a series, shonen or otherwise, who was more annoying and lacking in charisma than Judai. Even Naruto and Ichigo at their worst, are not as consistently annoying as Judai. Fuck. And again, they literally shove Judai into our faces all the fucking time. Fuck!
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no subject
Date: 2010-06-04 06:56 am (UTC)Yeesh. If Juudai was intended to be abrasive this would be so much more tolerable. I can't help but think that by this point Bakura would have agreed to use the honorific...and then proceeded to add so much sarcasm to the honorific that Manjoume would wish he'd never pressed the point in the first place. But rudeness works with characters like Bakura, they're assholes. Juudai is supposed to be the plucky hero, would it kill them to write him that way?
Ooh, I love it when Manjoume calls Juudai an idiot. And GADS Juudai, just call him 'san' already, show some basic manners!
I vote for Asuka or Misawa. Or, barring them, Fubuki, Manjoume, or Kaiser Ryou. They'd all do far better as main characters than Juudai.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-04 07:07 am (UTC)BUT MANNERS IS HARD! CAN'T I JUST BE "SPECIAL" AND FLAUNT ALL SOCIAL RULES WHENEVER I WANT?
Asuka or Misawa...both fine choices indeed. They'd certainly bring something new to the genre and the franchise, instead of stock idiot hero #47, AKA Judai.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-04 07:41 am (UTC)NOT UNLESS YOU'RE GOING TO BE BADASS ABOUT IT TOO! AND A GENUINELY TRAUMATIC PAST EXPLAINING (BUT NOT EXCUSING) YOUR WARPED WORLD-VIEW ALSO HELPS!
They both seem to be types quite rare in shounen manga. I actually can't think of any shounen manga with female protagonists besides Inuyasha (well, Kagome shares the spot with Inuyasha, but she's also the closest thing to a viewpoint character which you can get in a visual medium), and strategic, introspective protagonists are also rare...the only one I can think of off the top of my head is Atemu sharing protagonist-space with Yuugi. And maybe... Damn, this is hard. Wait, Kenshin! And... Now I'm lost again.
It probably doesn't help that I'm always so massively behind the times, though. The newest Shounen Jump series I've read is GX, the only Shounen Sunday Comics tankoubon I've got are used ones from the 80s, and I typically like few enough of the series running in Shounen Jump at a time that I practically use the old magazines of it I've got as doorstoppers ^^; I'm about equally far behind with shoujo, since I typically only go for the historical/fantasy ones.
Most of my favorite series are already aging a good deal...really, I'm too young to be old and cantankerous about fiction!
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Date: 2010-06-04 07:58 am (UTC)SETO KAIBA SAID IT BEST! EVERYONE LOVES HIM EVEN THOUGH HE'S A TOTAL DICK! and then isis ishtar activates exchange of spirit and completely derails his ass *ILU Isis, even if you didn't win in the end*
Hmm...for female main characters, there is Fairy Tail with Lucy, though she's more of a viewpoint character to Natsu's idiot hero, but its still a lot of fun and has lots of good female characters besides. You just have to be willing to swim through what is, at times, a sea of fanservice. Azumanga Daioh is also shonen, though more slice-of-life as opposed to action. OH, AND SOUL EATER! SOUL EATER IS AWESOME AND HAS AN INCREDIBLY AWESOME LEADING LADY! A BIT EXCESSIVE ON THE FANSERVICE EARLY ON, BUT THAT GETS TONED DOWN BEFORE TOO LONG. Yotsuba&! is by the same guy who did Azumanga Daioh and is an absolute delight. OH, AND CLAYMORE, AWESOME SHONEN WITH TONS OF BADASS LADIES ALL OVER THE PLACE, GREAT FIGHT SCENES, AND WONDERFUL CHARACTERIZATION!
On the more strategic heroes front, the Fullmetal Alchemist manga is definitely very thinky with its fighty fighty, as all the main characters are basically chemistry nerds in a world where chemistry is the one true path to being AWESOME! Death Note...the protagonist is the villain, the handling of the ladies is less than ideal at best, and sometimes the author really reaches with how far things go, but idiots do not survive long. And Eyeshield 21, which is about a football team, really emphasizes the importance of strategy and planning, in addition to bullheaded determination and working really hard.
Meh, you think you've got it bad? I'm too young to be old and cantankerous, period! you get off of my lawn you damn dirty kids!
(LOL, JK, I hope some of these recommendations work out for you.)
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Date: 2010-06-04 10:56 pm (UTC)<3 Ishizu. I like to think that she only lost because Kisara gave Seto a spiritual kick in the ass.
Thanks for the recommendations! I've been meaning to try out Fullmetal Alchemist for ages...
Every time I see some anime reviewer talking about how dated a series is, I start babbling to the computer about kids these days and their shiny animation. Good artwork is more important than how annoyingly bright you can get the colors on the screen, people!
...I feel much more at home with old fashioned 90s animation ^^;
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Date: 2010-06-04 10:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-05 12:20 am (UTC)But most of my childhood memories are of things like doing artwork (back then I didn't worry about the cost of art supplies and so experimented a lot more!), and looking back and realizing how many of my female friends I actually had crushes on ^^; And of the wildlife. I loved visiting nature reserves in order to see the kangaroos (I don't know about nowadays, but back in the 90s you were allowed to feed and pet them, and like all animals they were so demanding!), birds, penguin watching... But nowadays my fear of insects and dirt has overcome me so I prefer to appreciate such things from a distance ^^;
As for cartoons, I only really started watching cartoons at all by the time I was out of the target audience, and then it was mostly a matter of curiosity. Though on a relatively objective level, 90s cartoons were certainly better than most of the ones being put out nowadays!
I've just never watched a huge amount of tv, and when I did watch the most it was usually just on as background noise while I drew/wrote. I literally don't bother watching tv nowadays, I just watch something online if I find out about it through that faraway grapevine and it catches my interest.
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Date: 2010-06-05 12:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-05 02:40 am (UTC)